Something, something, tachyons. Something, subspace, something. I always loved when the Star Trek v. Star Wars debaters tried to focus on how "realistic" the science was in their respective pet property... The debate itself can be worthwhile, but that particular side of it is just silly.

Dastardly:Something, something, tachyons. Something, subspace, something. I always loved when the Star Trek v. Star Wars debaters tried to focus on how "realistic" the science was in their respective pet property... The debate itself can be worthwhile, but that particular side of it is just silly.

It's like arguing whose imaginary friend is taller.

Yes these can be rather funny. Though one thing that stands out for me in favour of Star Trek is that it seems like the creators actually put some thought and maybe a bit of scientific knowledge into their stuff, where Star Wars on the other hand George Lucas was obviously just pulling stuff out of his ass which left it up to others afterwards to try to quantify the specs. And the funny part here is that for the people that did this it almost seems like the intent was entirely focused on making their imaginary ladder for Star Wars that much taller than Star Trek' imaginary ladder.

As for the episode I sort of expected this. For how much they cram into a single episode in terms of scenes, locations, characters, post effects, I didn't think they'd be able to stick to a weekly schedule. So we'll get the real show every two weeks, with small intermission episodes spaced in between.

That was a bit weak. I guess they were too short on time to make anything other than a "lol, Star Trek is unrealistic" gag. Though I guess any reference to Dr Who will let them get away with it. No one should depend on lampshading alone to carry a sketch.

RandV80:Yes these can be rather funny. Though one thing that stands out for me in favour of Star Trek is that it seems like the creators actually put some thought and maybe a bit of scientific knowledge into their stuff, where Star Wars on the other hand George Lucas was obviously just pulling stuff out of his ass which left it up to others afterwards to try to quantify the specs. And the funny part here is that for the people that did this it almost seems like the intent was entirely focused on making their imaginary ladder for Star Wars that much taller than Star Trek' imaginary ladder.

Kiiiiiiiinda what I meant. What does it really matter how scientific the information is behind it? Except to the theoretical physicists in the audience, people aren't spending most of the show puzzling over how the spaceship "goes."

"Hyperspace" is a jargony term Star Wars uses to indicate "going really fast." How does it work? You go really fast. It requires calculations so you don't hit stuff, which is why you can't just do it whenever you want. To the casual audience (ie, most of the viewers), "Warp Speed" means exactly the same thing. There is absolutely no difference between the two: it's sci-fi speak for "go really fast, because the plot demands it."

Both properties "pull stuff out of their ass." Both of them use real words, but in fictional ways. And both of them boil down to, "The gadget does the thing because it must."

I will say, however, that "less scientific" explanations allow for better storytelling. Instead of spending 15 minutes of each episode introducing some new gadget or particle (like Pokemon for physicists), you can focus on creating authentic characters and engaging storylines.

(Something I really loved about Firefly, too. You hear stuff like, "Gotta adjust the port pin lock, or the secondary grav boot's gonna fly right through the catalyzer," and you know what you know? Everything you need to. Something technical is broken and must be fixed.)

RandV80:Yes these can be rather funny. Though one thing that stands out for me in favour of Star Trek is that it seems like the creators actually put some thought and maybe a bit of scientific knowledge into their stuff, where Star Wars on the other hand George Lucas was obviously just pulling stuff out of his ass which left it up to others afterwards to try to quantify the specs. And the funny part here is that for the people that did this it almost seems like the intent was entirely focused on making their imaginary ladder for Star Wars that much taller than Star Trek' imaginary ladder.

Kiiiiiiiinda what I meant. What does it really matter how scientific the information is behind it? Except to the theoretical physicists in the audience, people aren't spending most of the show puzzling over how the spaceship "goes."

"Hyperspace" is a jargony term Star Wars uses to indicate "going really fast." How does it work? You go really fast. It requires calculations so you don't hit stuff, which is why you can't just do it whenever you want. To the casual audience (ie, most of the viewers), "Warp Speed" means exactly the same thing. There is absolutely no difference between the two: it's sci-fi speak for "go really fast, because the plot demands it."

Both properties "pull stuff out of their ass." Both of them use real words, but in fictional ways. And both of them boil down to, "The gadget does the thing because it must."

I will say, however, that "less scientific" explanations allow for better storytelling. Instead of spending 15 minutes of each episode introducing some new gadget or particle (like Pokemon for physicists), you can focus on creating authentic characters and engaging storylines.

(Something I really loved about Firefly, too. You hear stuff like, "Gotta adjust the port pin lock, or the secondary grav boot's gonna fly right through the catalyzer," and you know what you know? Everything you need to. Something technical is broken and must be fixed.)

What I mean is, lets use starship phaser/laser power as an example. It seems like Star Trek they took there best guesstimate and came up with... I really don't know this stuff but lets say 15,000 KJ of energy or something, the power behind the USS Enterprises phasor beams. Star Wars when deciding how powerful a Star Destroyers main cannons were, looked at the Star Trek numbers and said 'oh yeah well we'll be 100x stronger than them!!!' and set the spec sheets at 150,000,000 KJ of energy.

Or at least the one time I took a peak into a USS Enterprise vs Star Destroyer argument there were these 'official' numbers that the Star Wars guys were pulling out that sounded exactly like my above example.

Let me put on my "comedian who's been booed of stage" hat.The joke was too long. 20 seconds, tops. You strung it out for over a minute and just drained the humor out of it. The setup wasn't really that good either, since the Sonic Screwdriver wasn't established until the end, and it's "fix all" attribute wasn't emphasized. If she was fixing random stuff with it throughout the sketch, it may have had a better effect.

unacomn:Let me put on my "comedian who's been booed of stage" hat.The joke was too long. 20 seconds, tops. You strung it out for over a minute and just drained the humor out of it. The setup wasn't really that good either, since the Sonic Screwdriver wasn't established until the end, and it's "fix all" attribute wasn't emphasized. If she was fixing random stuff with it throughout the sketch, it may have had a better effect.

Their sonic screwdriver is just like the future real life sonic screwdriver. It tightens screws & bolts, picks mechanical locks, and is used for surgery.

Sure it is slightly more useful than a standard screwdriver, but it is not a one tool for everything piece of technology. Notice the toolbox sitting on the floor, and the comment "which one" when asked for a screwdriver. Although, why they would need to cary multiple screwdrivers when they have a sonic screwdriver is beyond me.

This reminds me of an invention I was thinking of before. Instead of landing on planets and stuff, we should invent some sort of, like, magical beam sort of thing that just, you know, transports people from one place to another. But I guess that's what the TARDIS is for.